Glass - A Clear Solution

Discover the Wonders of Glass

Discover the Wonders of Glass

Just as we brought our vision for advanced glass technologies to life in the A Day Made of Glass video series, designers are using our glass to turn the applications from that series into a reality. Keep reading to learn more about glass as a material in our book, Glass - A Clear Solution, or read it as an e-book.

Glass belongs on your design board

Glass belongs on your design board

For more than 160 years, Corning has applied its expertise in glass and ceramics to unleash new benefits and enhance people’s lives.

Corning first earned its reputation as a problem solver in the 1870s, when the burgeoning railroad industry was beset by frequent accidents due to unreliable signals at dangerous crossings. Corning designed a revolutionary technology for signal lenses, along with consistent color formulas that improved visibility and increased the safety of rail travel.

Since then, Corning has continued to apply its materials and process expertise to solve tough challenges.

When Thomas Edison needed help making his electric light a reality, Corning developed a clear, heat-tolerant encasement for his electric filament, along with a process for mass-producing the bulbs quickly, reliably, and cheaply.

When the U.S. government introduced the Clean Air Act in 1970, Corning scientists developed an innovative honeycomb structure for trapping emissions that helped automakers meet stringent new regulations.

And when telephone systems were being strained and carriers needed to dramatically increase capacity, Corning scientists invented low-loss optical fiber and unleashed a communications revolution.

More recently, Corning developed precision glass for advanced displays, damage-resistant glass for mobile devices, and extremely heat-resistant glass for expeditions to the farthest reaches of the solar system.

It’s tough work, but we’re driven by our endless fascination with glass – its beauty, stability, and versatility. We’re constantly unlocking its mysteries and discovering new ways to put it to work.

Chemically Strengthened Glass

Chemically Strengthened Glass

From mobile electronic devices to planes, trains, and automobiles, Corning® Gorilla® Glass brings beauty and durability to a world on the go

The cover glass that started it all

Corning® Gorilla® Glass combines a thin form factor with unprecedented damage resistance and outstanding optics. Today, Gorilla Glass has been used on more than 4.5 billion smartphones, tablets, and notebooks around the world.

Gorilla Glass is much more than a clever interface between our fingers and the digital world. It also has transformed people’s ideas of what glass can do – proving that glass can be beautiful and tough…stable and versatile…elegant and damage resistant. And that’s opening a host of new design possibilities far beyond the touchscreen.

What brings this new reality to life? It’s the combination of two Corning innovations:

First, our proprietary fusion process creates very thin glass with outstanding surface quality, with no need for grinding or polishing.

Second, Gorilla Glass has a remarkable aluminosilicate composition, optimized for chemical strengthening. Our ion-exchange process forms a compressive stress layer that goes much deeper into the glass than a soda-lime composition of comparable thickness. The result: industry-leading glass for toughness and damage resistance.

These two factors create a powerful combination for consumer electronics, enabling sleek devices that resist scratches and damage from keys, coins, and drops.

But Gorilla Glass is unlocking possibilities in other arenas as well – anywhere designers need superior clarity, light weight, durability, and elegance.

Specialty Surfaces

Specialty Surfaces

Corning innovations in surface science tackle some of the challenges of public life

Extraordinary capabilities for everyday products

As kids, we’re taught to look beyond the surface. But for designers considering creative new glass applications, surface impressions are important.

An outdoor glass display may be durable and lightweight, but if it’s hard to read in bright sunlight, it’s not practical. A restaurant server’s electronic tablet may make it through the bumps and drops of a busy shift, but if it’s smudged and dirty, it’s unappetizing.

Corning is reducing these potential barriers by re-engineering the surface of the glass.

Our Specialty Surfaces portfolio builds on the great attributes of Corning® Gorilla® Glass and adds unique new functionality to take glass where it has never gone before.

Because Willow Glass behaves in ways you wouldn’t expect, our customers are inspired to use it in unexpected places, too. Willow Glass is covering walls, kitchen cabinets, and whiteboards. It can be sandwiched into electronic devices, carrying complex components while adding barely a whisper of thickness and weight. And it unlocks opportunities for bendable displays and curved wearable screens.

It’s solving tough problems and adding aesthetic appeal wherever it goes. And more ideas are constantly around the bend.

More About Flexible Glass

The efficiency of glass on a roll

The efficiency of glass on a roll

As slim as 100 microns, Willow Glass makes roll-to-roll glass processing a practical, affordable reality. Just as a printing press quickly creates copy after copy on a single roll of paper, manufacturers working with Willow Glass can apply images, coatings, electronic circuitry, and more in a fast-throughput, cost-effective roll-to-roll process.

As slim as 100 microns, Willow Glass makes roll-to-roll glass processing a practical, affordable reality. Just as a printing press quickly creates copy after copy on a single roll of paper, manufacturers working with Willow Glass can apply images, coatings, electronic circuitry, and more in a fast-throughput, cost-effective roll-to-roll process.

Light-Diffusing Fiber

Light-Diffusing Fiber

Corning® Fibrance® sets unexpected places aglow

Unleashing brilliant design possibilities

As consumers, we all respond strongly to shapes. The subtle curve of a car dashboard…the tailored seams of a perfectly fit jacket…the classic silhouette of an electric guitar. They all inspire us to say, “Great lines.”

What if those lines suddenly came aglow with bright strands of color and light? What if that light seemed to come out of nowhere?

A sleek, contemporary material for a world of applications

Its clean, glossy surface and thermal-shock resistance have made it an enduring icon in kitchens around the world. And new innovations in lightweight glass-ceramics are emerging for designers looking for a tough material with a distinctive aesthetic flair.

Corning has a diverse portfolio of glass-ceramics with distinct properties to suit a wide variety of contemporary applications.